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Gospel of John, an Overview

Christ: The Heart of Christianity

The Purpose of the Gospel of John
The Power of the Gospel of John
The Penetration of the Gospel of John
The Plan of the Gospel of John

John 2:12-25

Basic & Study Questions

Opening Our Hearts to the Gospel

The Bible Teaching Commentary

Paul J. Bucknell
_________________________

Purpose

Study questions on John 2:12-25, basic and advanced, show how to be intimate by focusing on one spiritual principle: Our intimacy with God can go only as deep as our sin is put aside. The cleansing of the temple, God's House, is the way God intervenes in His people's lives. (Click here for study).

Questions for Understanding! (Basic)

John 2:12-25

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and there they stayed a few days.
13 And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers seated.
15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables;
16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR THY HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
18 The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?”
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22 When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing.
24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,
25 and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man.
(John 2:12-25, NASB).

1) After spending some time in Capernaum, where did Jesus go? Why? (John 2:12-13)

2) What two kinds of people did Jesus find in the temple? (John 2:14)

3) How did He react to these two groups of people? (John 2:15)

4) What did He say to those selling doves? (John 2:16)

5) What phrase from the Old Testament did this incident remind them of? (John 2:17)

6) How did the Jewish people respond to this? (John 2:18)

7) How did Jesus respond to this question of theirs? (John 2:19)

8) Could the Jews understand Jesus' answer? What did they say? (John 2:20)

9) What did Jesus refer to when He mentioned destroying the temple? (John 2:21)

10) When did Jesus' disciples remember that Jesus had said this? What happened as a result of their remembering this? (John 2:22)

11) What else happened in Jerusalem during this time? What resulted from this? (John 2:23)

12) People were trusting in Jesus but why didn't Jesus trust them? (John 2:24)

13) Did Jesus need any help understanding people? Why? (John 2:25)

Questions for Impact! (Advanced)

1) How do you find yourself responding to the way Jesus reacted to what He saw in the temple area?

2) What was it in the temple area that Jesus had such a difficulty with? Check a reference book to get more details on the selling and money exchange.

3) Do you find Jesus responding in this way at other times? Explain.

4) Jesus uses the phrase, "My Father's house" (John 2:16) to describe the Old Testament temple. How might this help us understand the the great turmoil in His heart?

5) The phrase, "Zeal for They House will consume Me" (John 2:17) was quoted from Psalm 69:9. Read the Psalm and generally describe the context for this verse. Application: What is your knowledge of the Psalms like? Could the Holy Spirit recall this important phrase to your mind?

6) Study the rebuilding of the second temple. Solomon's temple was the first but was destroyed at the time of captivity. As time permits summarize the book of Ezra around the theme of the rebulding of the second temple. Check a Bible dictionary to discover King Herod's part in greatly expanding this second temple. Note: It seems that though the Lord did not want a house, once built, He accepted it as His place of glory in contrast to the tabernacle tent.

7) Did the disciples at the time understand the connection between Jesus body and the temple? What is the connection. Please use relevant scripture verses as much as possible. (John 2:19,21)

8) What is John's purpose of writing the Gospel of John? (cf. John 20:30-31) Contrast the way the disciples (John 2:22) and the Jews (2:23) came to have a greater belief in Christ. Application: Trace the ways that your faith has grown over the years. Share what events, passages, miracles, etc. has stimulated your faith to grow?

9) The words 'to trust,' 'to have faith,' 'to believe,' and 'to entrust' are all the same Greek word (pistueo, pistis).Note how frequently it is used in verses 22-24. Why is it that Jesus would not put His trust in the believers seeing that they put their trust in Him? Application: Is the Lord able to fully trust you?

10) How does the cleansing of the temple show the need for a greater faith in Christ?

11) The bodies of Christians, both individually and corporately, are called the temple of God (1 Cor 6:19). What kinds of sin in God's church make it difficult for God to reveal His glory and draw close to His people? Application What about your life?

12) The Holy Spirit lives in His people just like He did in the temple. Go through the Old and New Testament and suggest reasons why or where God could not overlook His people's sins. (Hint: Moses, Isaiah, Achan, Ananias, etc.)

13) There were two cleansings of the temple, one at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and one at the end. What does this show about the effectiveness about Jesus' cleaning the temple? How does the cross and the resurrection more effectively with establishing a close relationship between God and His people?

14) Summary Application: Would you say that you are intimate with God? What steps can you change in your life to increase your thirst for the presence of God?